Witnesses: Boy struck retrieving something

Three people who saw an Amtrak train hit and kill Shawn E. Stone-Garzee on Monday night said they have no idea how or why the 13-year-old boy ended up in front of the engine.

Gatehouse News Service

Three people who saw an Amtrak train hit and kill Shawn E. Stone-Garzee on Monday night said they have no idea how or why the 13-year-old boy ended up in front of the engine.

According to Abingdon Police Chief Fred Andrews, the male cousin with Stone-Garzee at the time of the accident said the pair were riding bicycles and towing a non-operating go-cart west across the tracks that intersect Sanitary Road. The rope they were using broke, and the train hit Stone-Garzee as he attempted to move the go-cart.

"They were already across the tracks and the clothes-line they were using broke," Andrews said. "Shawn's first instinct was to move back and get the go-cart. His cousin said he tried to grab him, but it was too late."

Mike Allcon, Rogelio Grant and James Daniel said they were walking west on Sanitary Road toward the tracks and saw the train hit Stone-Garzee.

"We didn't see a go-cart," 15-year-old Allcon said. "It looked like they were riding hard to beat the train and then the one boy got off his bike to get something on the tracks."

Grant, 15, said he didn't see a go-cart. Daniels, 26, agreed. All three said they didn't see what Stone-Garzee tried to retrieve.

"The boys crossed the tracks and the one who got hit went back," Daniels said. "He was on the tracks and it looked like the sound of the horn stunned him for a second.

"That train was moving fast. He couldn't get out of the way. It was a terrible, terrible thing to see."

Grant said the other boy immediately left, and they assumed he was getting help. A short time later a woman with a cell phone arrived. Allcon, Grant and Daniels told her to stay back from the tracks and not look.

"I didn't know what to do, but I didn't want her to see it," Grant said. "I think all of us were in shock."

Andrews confirmed a 911 call was placed at 8:55 p.m., and Abingdon police Officer Don Ryner arrived on the scene four minutes later. The woman who placed the call was later identified as Stone-Garzee's mother.

Abingdon Middle School students were dealing with the death as the school year winds down today.

"They all think they're immortal at this age," Principal Stan Adcock said. "They just cannot understand why such a good kid was taken in such a senseless accident."

Andrews said the boy temporarily was living with an aunt in Abingdon. He and his younger brother, Jonathon, a first-grader at Hedding Grade School, enrolled in Abingdon schools April 1. The brothers moved to Abingdon from Canton, where Stone-Garzee was enrolled at Ingersoll Middle School.

Abingdon District 217 Superintendent Magie Stuart said students were gathered Tuesday and given as many facts as administrators knew at the time. They then shared a moment of silence. Counselors and the Knox County School Crisis Assistance Team were made available for students.

A memorial of red construction-paper hearts sprang up on Stone-Garzee's locker. Students signed the papers, some adding their own photos and signs.

"He was just a very quiet, bright boy," said Adcock. "He had so much going for him. What a loss.

"I have some students who are having a really tough time dealing with it," he said.

"I've got kids who are going, 'Would you save your life, or a go-cart?'"